It's snowing again, and they tell us to expect up to a foot of the stuff before it all ends in about 36 hours or so. Nothing much to do around these parts but read and entertain the kids who have been sent home from school. Some folks love the snow. They talk about its beauty and its ability to cover us all until we're an equal, enveloped mass of pristine whiteness, comfy and huddled together in our places of abode. And some of the folks around here get giddy-happy, and go out and play in it with their kids until they lose feeling in their hands and feet and have to rush indoors for delicious hot chocolate and the chance to lovingly rub away each other's cold.
Well...
All I can think about is the mad rush to the grocery stores to stock up for the coming undrivable weather. I think of the packed parking lots with crazy, angry, jostling people. I think of the long long lines, the slow-moving, squabbling older couples (why the hell do they shop together anyway?) and the impatient children tugging at my clothes. I think of the slushy ice that destroys my impractical shoes. I think of the hardened, slippery surfaces that I've fallen on (sprawling, badly hurt, and embarrassed) too many times.
(I have seriously contemplated the goodness of mud while on my backside on those occasions.)
And...
Despite the poetic views of some, the snow doesn't treat us all equally. The bad roads in poorer neighborhoods will worsen and remain unfixed. The parents who can ill afford it will have to take off from work (work doesn't shut down for the poor) to spend time home with their kids. The heating bills will escalate, as will food bills (people stuck at home tend to eat more), and the dry-weather cars will be completely useless, which will cause poor folks to take public transportation, which means time spent waiting (and getting sick) in the freezing cold for unreliable buses, and having to take off from work again to go to the doctor, and that means co-payments you can ill-afford, and all sorts of other expensive surprises in the mail.
On a good note...
Half the day is over, and we now have about 30 of the 36 hours of snow left to go.
